Flight
by xheybails
Summary: When Jane leaves home for a year abroad on her own, she expects to experience new places and cultures. She doesn't, however, expect to meet a high class, blonde, pre-med student. And more importantly, she never expects to fall in love with her. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Flight

**By:** Bailee

**Pairing:** Jane/Maura

**Summary:** When Jane leaves home for a year abroad on her own, she expects to experience new places and cultures. She doesn't, however, expect to meet a high class, blonde, pre-med student. And more importantly, she never expects to fall in love with her. AU.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own, I rent.

**A/N: **This story is a little different than most I've ever written. I have recently left my home, where I've lived all my life, for a year of traveling. Even though I'm constantly on the move, this is the longest I've ever been gone. The other day, I got an idea for a book, a similar experience to mine, with the added turmoil of a love affair, of course.

When I actually sat down to write the book, however, I was having a lot of trouble. Then I asked myself, what if it were Jane and Maura? Suddenly the words began pouring out. I still plan to turn this into a regular work of fiction, and am essentially writing two books side-by-side, but doing it this way gives me not only the opportunity to have a ton of beta readers, it gives me a chance to get feedback while I'm writing and to have a bit easier of a time getting into the heads of my characters.

But anyway, sorry for the long ramble, just wanted to explain my thought process here. Enjoy, guys! Let me know what you think – good or bad.

Also, yes, I will update my other stories eventually. Promise!

**Chapter One**

"It's just something I have to do, Casey," Jane said, exasperated. She tore into her closet; she knew the shirt had to be in there somewhere. She had just worn it last week. Or was it the week before?

She picked up and tossed away shirt after shirt, "damn it, why are all my clothes black?"

Jane grabbed another shirt, inspected it closely, and then discarded it into the pile with the others with a groan.

"I just don't understand why you're doing this."

"Lots of people do this kind of thing."

"No, I mean," Casey started, trying to keep her attention from the task at hand, "I don't understand why _you're _doing this."

Jane shot up instantly, stopping her endless search. Her eyes narrowed on her boyfriend, "I have always loved to travel!"

"I'm not saying you don't. But alone? This is you we're talking about. How are you going to survive for a year on your own when you don't, you know…like people."

"God, Casey, I'm not totally socially inept," she returned to her search, pulling out a black lacy top, "aha!"

She rolled the shirt up tightly and stuffed it into the backpack on her bed. On one hand, she could understand why Casey was having such a hard time accepting this. In the four years they had been dating, they hadn't spent more than a couple weeks apart; now she was leaving for a year? She would be upset too, if he were the one leaving.

But this was something she had to do. If she ever wanted to change herself, change the course of her life, she couldn't do it here. She had been planning it for months and been thinking about it even longer. When she first began bringing it up, people thought she was kidding. It wasn't until she'd finally purchased a one-way ticket out of her small town that people started taking her seriously.

Casey continued to watch her closely from his spot on the bed as she continued to pile clothes into the already full backpack. She could feel his eyes watching her every movement, waiting for her to continue to try and convince him.

But really, what else was there left to say? She was leaving tomorrow, whether he understood why or not. She knew she wouldn't change her mind, despite the fact that she was scared to death. She'd waited too long for this opportunity to let it slip past her; she needed this too much.

All her life, Jane had been waiting for a chance to reinvent herself. Growing up, she had always felt inferior to the people around her. She never felt smart enough or pretty enough or interesting enough. She had always longed to move away to a different city or state, or country even, where no one knew her, where her reputation couldn't follow her, and become the person she'd always dreamt of being.

Doing that in the increasingly small town she'd lived in all her life seemed to be impossible. Too many people there had known her for too long, she was stuck in too many old routines to break the mold without a change of scenery. She knew this was the only way to become the person who was stuck inside.

She finished stuffing the last few things into her bag and struggled to zip it. When she finally closed the bag, she looked at it with a satisfied smile, and then glanced over at Casey. The look on his face pained her; it wasn't that she wasn't going to miss him, she would. But she also knew that if it were meant to be, they would find a way to make it work.

Casey, however, didn't seem to be quite so certain. Jane walked over to him and put her arms around his shoulders, giving him a soft kiss on the forehead before embracing him tightly. She felt him sigh against her and wrap his arms around her waist.

"You'll at least try to be careful, won't you?"

She scoffed in response, "I'm always careful."

"Jane, I'm serious. This isn't some weekend trip to New York. This is leaving the country. For a year."

"I know what it is, Casey," she said defensively, "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"And promise me you won't meet some smooth-talking Italian guy and let him seduce you."

"Now that I can't promise," she replied, the smile growing on her face. Casey shot her a look of mock-depression, his lip jutting out in a pout, his eyes even producing a few tears.

"What? You know I can't resist a sexy accent. Though I have always been more into the English accent, rather than Italian."

Jane began laughing and it wasn't long before Casey's straight face was breaking. He pulled her backwards with him and they tumbled over. He managed to flip them around so that he was on top of her and began tickling her, keeping her hands pinned above her head so that she couldn't retaliate. She gasped for air, trying desperately to gain control.

"I surrender, I surrender!" she exclaimed between breaths.

The intensity of the moment wore down and Casey lay down next to her as they both regained their breathing. He let out a long sigh as he rolled on his back and tucked his arms behind his head.

"I'm really going to miss you, Jane," he whispered quietly.

"Yeah," she started, just as softly, "I'm going to miss you too."

**- R & I -**

"Geez, Ma, enough with the tears, already," Jane said with a roll of her eyes. She hugged her little brothers and Casey before turning to her father.

"I'll see ya later, Daddy," she said softly, before bringing her dad into a hug. She honestly didn't think she would cry, but after seeing the tears in her father's eyes, she felt her own eyes begin to blur behind the tears that were threatening to fall.

"I'm going to miss you, kiddo. Don't forget to call, okay?"

"I will, Pop."

She turned to her mother, the moment she'd been dreading all morning. Angela was a mess, to put it lightly. Jane couldn't blame her too much; she was the oldest and therefore, the first to "leave the nest." Not only was she leaving, she was going across an ocean for an entire year. It wasn't like most of her classmates who had moved away, most of them had simply gone to college on the other side of the state or moved a few hours away to Boston.

But Jane never did anything the easy way.

"You're sure I can't go with you?" Angela said through her tears.

"I'll be fine, Ma. I'll call and write and text and email as much as I can."

"What about Facebook?"

"Yes, Ma, Facebook too," Jane replied with a roll of her eyes. She wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and embraced her tightly, squeezing her eyes shut so her tears couldn't escape.

"Well," Jane started, letting her hands fall to her sides, "I guess I'll see you guys in a year."

Before Angela could pull her into yet another hug, she turned to enter the security line. It wasn't until she was sitting at her gate waiting to board the plane that she let the tears fall.

She never thought it would be so hard to say goodbye.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own, I rent.

**A/N: **Thank you guys so much for all of your amazing reviews on the last chapter! I really do appreciate you taking time out of your day to let me know what you think. Hope you like this next installment!

**Chapter Two**

Jane squinted at the map in front of her, everything looked so foreign.

"I thought they spoke English here," Jane muttered to herself. She'd just stepped off the bus, fresh from the Dublin airport and knew her hostel was close, but couldn't seem to find it on the map in front of her.

She sighed and glanced around, no clue what she was doing, but too stubborn to ask anyone for help. She finally spotted where she needed to go, pulled her sunglasses back down over her eyes and made to cross the street.

She glanced to the right, looking for traffic before she crossed, and was startled when a car came zooming by from her left.

Of course, they drive on the other side of the road here, Jane thought to herself.

_Way to be American, Rizzoli._

She waited for the light to change and walked down the street, carefully watching the other people around her and taking in every sight like she was a kid in a candy store. It was maybe 12 blocks before she finally reached her hostel and she could not wait to put her bag down. It was getting heavier by the second and she was grateful she wouldn't heave to carry it around every single day.

"Hey," she said to the woman at the reception desk, "I, uh, have a reservation?"

The woman was short, Jane could tell that even when she was sitting. She had long, straight red hair that fell down nearly to her waist. She had dark blue eyes and was gorgeous by any standard. The woman grinned back at her, "First time in Dublin?"

"First time anywhere, really. Outside the US, I mean."

Jane's family had taken a trip to Italy back when she was in middle school, to visit their family in Rome, but Jane hardly counted that. She couldn't remember much of it since it had been so long ago, and she'd been so young.

"Well, welcome to Ireland!" the woman said, a little too enthusiastically. "I just need an ID and I'll get you all set up."

Jane handed her the passport and glanced around while the woman began typing away on her keyboard. The place was definitely interesting, and definitely not what she has always pictured when she'd heard the term "hostel." She'd always imagined a run down building with a mom-and-pop feel to it. But this place was hip and modern. It looked a bit like the fancy hotel in Boston where Casey had taken her for their anniversary last year.

It didn't look like a place that would only cost her 11 Euros a night.

The woman at the desk began talking to her, taking her through a map of the area and some major highlights she wouldn't want to miss. She handed Jane the keycard and her room information and directed her toward the elevator.

"If you ever need anything, or just want to hang out or something, just let me know," the woman said with a smile, "I'm Carly, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Carly," Jane said with a wave of her hand. She wasn't certain, but it was almost as if the woman was hitting on her. But surely, that couldn't be it.

Jane made her way toward the elevator, slipping her card in the slot and hitting the small circle with the '1' on it. She was startled by the voice that said "going up!" and even more surprised with herself when she was shocked the voice had an Irish accent.

She was in Ireland, after all.

The room was empty when Jane arrived, but she could tell by the suitcases that at least three other people were in the 8-bed dorm already. She'd heard many stories about people being in a room by themselves in hostels and she'd had hope.

Casey hadn't been wrong when he'd said she didn't like people.

But she was trying to turn over a new leaf, so maybe it was for the best. She could like people. She just needed a little practice.

Jane had nearly finished unpacking her things into the small storage locker beneath her bed when she heard the door to the room open. The sound made her jump and she let out a small gasp, covering her heart with her hand and willing it to slow it's beat.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the woman said quickly, "I didn't meant to startle you."

"No, no, it's okay. Totally fine," Jane replied with a smile. She watched as the blonde woman sat her suitcase on the bed across from her and began to unpack her things.

The two stayed in silence for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was probably only a few minutes. Jane didn't know what to say to the woman. She desperately wanted to talk to her, even if she wasn't entirely sure why, but she had no idea how one struck up a conversation with a complete stranger.

The woman probably wouldn't even want to talk to her anyway. One look at her Coach luggage told Jane that the woman was pretty high class. Much too high class for an 8-bed dormitory in a hostel.

"Why is someone as fancy as you staying in a hostel?"

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She tried to take them back, but they were already out there, floating in the air.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that…I mean, I did, but I didn't mean to say it like that, I just meant…I mean…I don't know what I mean. I'm just going to shut up now, actually."

She turned, ignoring the shocked look on the blonde's face. Jane sat down on the edge of her bed, hand against her forehead.

"It's alright," the woman said simply.

"No, I really am sorry, I just say things sometimes and don't really think and I just…I'm sorry."

The woman let out a small laugh and surprised Jane by walking the few feet over toward her and sat down on the bed next to her.

"It really is okay. It's a natural question, I suppose, my belongings do tend to scream "rich girl," as much as that may not be the case anymore. I really don't mind."

Jane looked up at her, noticing her beauty for the first time. Her hazel eyes were piercing, like they were staring right into Jane's soul. Her golden curls fell down around her shoulders, bangs falling in front of her face on one side. Jane couldn't help but notice the vanilla scent radiating off her and she felt her breath hitch as the woman touched her arm lightly.

"I used to be rich. I mean, I guess I technically still am. But my parents don't support me being here; they think it's a waste of time and money. They said if I was going to take a year off before medical school and travel, I'd have to pay for it myself. Luckily, I had quite a bit saved from birthdays and Christmas and tutoring, but not enough to travel as I normally have throughout my life. Thus, the fancy suitcases in the hostel."

Jane simply nodded, still taken aback by the woman's beauty.

"I'm Maura, by the way. Maura Isles."

She couldn't help but think that the name suited her. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman. In fact, she was certain she'd never seen anyone more attractive in her entire life. She knew her friends at home went crazy over all those guys you see in the movies, and she herself and even gone a little crazy over a few. They had even been able to appreciate the beauty of the women in the movies, like Mila Kunis and Megan Fox.

But Jane was certain that none of them could hold a candle next to Maura Isles.

Maura was looking at her expectantly and Jane noticed her smile drop just a hair. That was when Jane realized she'd been staring for the better part of 45 seconds and had yet to reply.

"Oh, sorry. Again. I'm Jane Rizzoli."

Maura's smile returned to its brightest state and Jane couldn't help but grin back at her.

"Well, Jane Rizzoli, it's very nice to meet you."

She stuck out her hand for Jane to shake before standing and putting the rest of her things in her locker. She'd been working at the task for a few minutes before Jane broke the silence again.

"Um, hey, I was going to go get something to eat. Did you, uh, maybe want to join me?"

If Jane thought her smile was brilliant before, it was nothing compared to what she was seeing right now.

"I'd love to."

**- R & I -**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own, I rent.

**A/N: **Sorry about the long wait between updates, guys. I must say, this story is taking me longer to write than I anticipated. And not going to lie, the disappointing end to season 4 has not made me all the psyched to write, or even read, anything Rizzoli & Isles related, but I'm still working on this and I will finish this and my other stories. It just might take me a while. Anyway, thanks for reading and enjoy!

**Chapter Three**

"Have you ever been to Dublin before?" Jane asked her as they rode the elevator down to the lobby.

"No, I haven't! My parents never wanted to come. We came to Ireland one summer, but we stayed in a cabin in the country. They always said Dublin wasn't sophisticated enough, but I've been dying to visit."

"What is it that your parents do?" she asked, curious as to how they afforded this "sophisticated" lifestyle they seemed to be accustom to.

"My mom's an artist. She has a gallery in Paris. And my dad is an English teacher at a university there. The American University of Paris?"

Jane nodded in response. She led them down the street to a pub she had passed on her way to the hostel. She opened the door for Maura and followed her inside, pointing to a booth on the other side of the room.

"Let's sit over there."

They each spent a few minutes looking over the menu before Jane decided on fish and chips; she figured she needed a stereotypical Irish meal for her first in the country.

"What are you having?" she asked Maura eagerly. She was not surprised in the least when Maura answered that she was going to have a salad. Jane didn't know what it was about her, but she seemed like the type to eat healthy, even while on vacation.

"A salad? Where's your sense of adventure, Isles? A salad is so boring."

"It's a very healthy choice, Jane!" she defended, "Especially in a situation such as the one we are in, you need to keep up your energy and fuel your body with healthy foods."

Jane couldn't stop the roll of her eyes, "I'll let you eat healthy tomorrow, I promise. It's our first night out on our own, let's live a little."

"Okay, fine," Maura sighed, "I'll get a burger. Happy now?"

The grin on Jane's face showed that yes, she was very happy now. She chuckled to herself and took a sip of her Diet Coke.

"You know, you really shouldn't drink diet soda. The artificial sweeteners in it are actually far worse for you than the sugar you get in regular Coke."

Jane shrugged, "I like the taste better. Do you always do that?"

"Do what?" Maura asked in surprise, unaware she was doing anything at all.

"Talk like you memorized the Wikipedia page or something."

"You know, Wikipedia is frequently incorrect. Very little is rigorously peer reviewed."

Jane couldn't help but let out a laugh in response, "See, there you go again."

She watched as they blonde's face fell and she immediately felt bad for poking fun at her new friend. This is why Jane never had a lot of friends growing up; she always had such a difficult time understanding people.

"I like it though," she added quickly, smiling at Maura.

"Really?" she asked Jane as if she didn't believe her.

"Yeah, I feel smarter already."

Maura finally smiled back and Jane returned the grin, proud of herself for fixing the situation. Many times when she got in a tough spot like that, she would just walk away, but something about Maura made her want to stick around and get to know the woman.

"I suppose I can't help it. I've always been like that. I…um…I didn't have many friends growing up. I read a lot and I don't forget much," Maura said with a shrug, as if her entire life could be summed up in that one sentence.

"I didn't have many friends either. I don't really like people very much, to be honest. And I've always been a little aggressive on the field, it was always tough to turn that off after we were done playing, you know?"

Maura nodded like she knew, but she really didn't have a clue what Jane meant. The only sports she'd ever participated in at school were fencing and ballet, neither of which required much aggression, and neither were much of a team sport.

"So if you don't like people, why spend your first night in a foreign country where no one knows you, with me?"

Jane simply shrugged, "I like you."

Maura looked down toward her lap to try and conceal the grin on her face, but she wasn't quick enough for Jane to miss it entirely. She was about to reply when the waitress brought their food and Jane quickly realized how hungry she was.

Other than the food she'd received on the flight to Paris, she'd had a layover there before connecting to Dublin, she hadn't eaten anything since she left home and she'd been travelling for nearly 24 hours at this point.

She dug into her fries, nearly moaning when she felt the hunger begin to subside almost the instant the food hit her stomach. She quickly washed it down with her Diet Coke and looked up to see a smirk on Maura's face.

Jane's cheeks reddened when she saw how Maura was looking at her, "Sorry, I, uh, I haven't eaten in a while."

"No, that's okay, that's understandable. I've just never seen anyone so particularly excited over fries before."

Jane let out an embarrassed laugh and returned to her food, much more slowly than before.

"So, you grew up in Paris?"

"No, not really. I mean, I spent most of my summers there when we weren't travelling. But I spent most of my time at my boarding school in the South of France."

"Wow, boarding school, too? You really are fancy."

Maura simply shrugged, "It's not a big deal, it's just how I was raised. After boarding school, I went to AUP, where my father works, for Biochemistry. I was supposed to go to medical school at Boston Cambridge University this fall, but I deferred until next year."

"BCU, huh? I'm from near there. A few girls from my field hockey team went there. I was going to go but… well, I just didn't. It's a pretty prestigious school, though. Why wouldn't you want to go?"

"School is all I've ever known. It's all I've ever been good at. Ever since I first left for boarding school when I was ten my parents have been telling me how I was going to live my life, become a doctor, be the best in my field. I'm not saying I don't want that, I do. But I'm tired of everyone making my decisions for me. I wanted to do something for me. So I packed up my belongings and hopped on a plane."

"Wow, no wonder your parents weren't very supportive. I'm sure that shocked the hell out of them."

"I wouldn't use those words, exactly, but yes, I suppose it did," Maura replied with a smile. "And what about you, Jane Rizzoli, what's your story?"

"Well, I grew up in a small town in Western Massachusetts. I went to junior college after I graduated and was planning on joining the police academy, but then," Jane was about to mention Casey and the very reason she'd decided to go on this trip, but stopped herself. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want Maura to know about Casey.

She almost felt like she was living two separate lives in that moment, but the feeling that she got when she was around Maura was so easy, so carefree, she knew if she mentioned Casey, everything would get complicated. She wanted to put that off for as long as she could.

"Then," she began again, "I decided to wait. I've never really been anywhere, you know? Boston, of course, and New York, and my family has taken vacations before, of course. But I've never been out on my own, and I figured it was about time I did something about that."

Maura nodded, completely understanding where Jane was coming from; if she noticed Jane trip over her words when she almost mentioned Casey, then she didn't mention it.

Throughout the rest of lunch, Jane told Maura of her family, of how she'd left behind her brothers and her parents (still not mentioning her boyfriend) and about her ambitions to become a homicide detective when she returned home next year.

Maura, in turn, told her of her life growing up in a boarding school, about how she had learned early on how to take care of herself, and that was why taking this trip alone didn't scare her. She was used to being alone.

On the way back to their room, Jane finally asked Maura the question she'd been dying to ask for hours now, "So, how long are you here?"

"Two weeks," Maura replied slowly, as if she were afraid it was the wrong answer. Jane began to grin, however.

"Hey, me too! That's awesome, I was beginning to get a little worried."

Truth be told, Jane had been a lot worried. She never thought she would make a friend so quickly, she wasn't looking forward to the point where she would have to say goodbye to Maura. But she decided to not think about that right now. They still had two weeks to spend time together; Jane wasn't going to waste any of it being sad for the inevitable.

"Do you want to watch a movie tonight or something? I put a bunch on my laptop before I left."

"Sure," Maura smiled at her, happy Jane seemed to still want to spend time with her.

Jane held the door to the hostel open and Maura walked in ahead of her. Jane couldn't help but admire the view and she got lost in a daze momentarily, thinking about the beautiful woman in front of her.

"Hey, it's Jane, right?" she heard someone say from a few feet away, breaking her concentration.

"Um, yeah," she said, unsure. It was the woman from reception, apparently off duty now and heading out.

"Right, I thought so. I'm just getting off work and was going to go out for a drink. Would you like to join me?"

Jane could tell now that the woman was definitely hitting on her. Despite the fact that she did have a boyfriend waiting for her at home, she might have taken Carly up on her offer had she not already made plans with Maura. It wasn't something she would normally do, but wasn't that what this entire trip was about? Having new experiences?

"Sorry, I already have plans tonight. Maybe another time," she replied, not really meaning it. She couldn't imagine spending any of her time here in the city with anyone other than Maura. Maybe that was presumptuous of her, but she couldn't help it, as much as she tried to deny it, the woman captivated her.

"You can go, if you want," Maura said quietly, "I'll be fine on my own."

"Nah, that's okay. You have fun though," she said to Carly, walking past both women toward the elevator. She pushed the button and waited for the car to arrive. She noticed Maura stand next to her once again and, completely ignoring with just happened, she asked, "So what do you want to watch?"

Maura smiled at her, "Do you have that new Sandra Bullock movie? I've heard it's very good and have been wanting to see it."

"Gravity? Yeah, I've got that one."

"Perfect," Maura replied as the two entered the elevator.

_Perfect._

**- R & I -**


End file.
